2024-05-08 12:52:46
A thermometer in Vendée, August 2022. MATHIEU THOMASSET / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
The underlying trend of warming fueled by the massive combustion of oil, coal and fossil gas is confirmed.
By Le Nouvel Obs with AFP
Published on May 8, 2024 at 2:52 p.m.
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April 2024 broke a monthly record for heat on the Earth’s surface for the 11th month in a row, the European Copernicus service announced this Wednesday, May 8.
And on the oceans, the month of April beat its monthly record for the 13th month in a row, with an average surface temperature of 21.04°C, marking however a slight inflection compared to the record of March (21.07°C). VS).
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The natural climatic phenomenon El Niño “continued to weaken”suggesting a possible respite later in the year, but without changing anything in the underlying trend of warming fueled by the massive combustion of oil, coal and fossil gas.
A series of records
Since June last year, every month has broken its own monthly heat record.
April 2024 is therefore no exception to the rule with an average temperature of 15.03°C, or 1.58°C higher than a normal month of April in the climate of the pre-industrial era (1850- 1900). “Although unusual, such a series of monthly records had already been observed in 2015/2016”says Copernicus.
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Over the last 12 months, the global temperature has been on average 1.61°C higher than in the pre-industrial era, exceeding the limit of 1.5°C set by the 2015 Paris agreement. This anomaly should, however, be noted on average over several decades to consider that the climate has reached this critical threshold. However, these figures show “how remarkable are the global temperature conditions we are currently experiencing”underlines Julien Nicolas, climatologist at the Copernicus Climate Change Department (C3S), during an interview with AFP.
Last month was the second warmest April ever recorded in Europe, as was March and the entire winter period.
Extreme weather events
“Each additional degree of global warming is accompanied by extreme weather events, which are both more intense and more likely”recalls Julien Nicolas, while the last few weeks have been marked by extreme heat waves in Asia, from India to Vietnam, while the south of Brazil suffered deadly floods.
However, regarding precipitation, Copernicus does not show clear trends for April: the month was wetter than normal in a large part of Europe, but drier in the south of the continent.
Same contrast outside Europe: in a large part of North America, in Central and Eastern Asia, in the Gulf and southern Brazil, extreme rains caused flooding. But in northern Mexico, around the Caspian Sea and across large parts of Australia, drought dominated.
On the surface of the oceans, monthly heat record broken
The ocean surface temperature once again broke a monthly record in April, at 21.04°C on average excluding areas near the poles, marking a 13th monthly record in a row.
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This overheating threatens marine life, brings more moisture into the atmosphere and threatens the ability of the oceans to fulfill their crucial role in absorbing human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
However, the temperature marked a slight inflection compared to March and its absolute record, all months combined (21.07°C).
A planet “on the brink of the abyss”
The natural climatic phenomenon El Niño, a natural phenomenon which the South Pacific and induces global warming, “continued to weaken” in April to go towards “neutral conditions”, estimates Copernicus. But the end of El Niño will not change the underlying warming trend.
“This phenomenon is superimposed on long-term trends which persist and are directly linked to warming linked to the increase in concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and to the quantities of heat which are absorbed and stored in particular in the oceans »emphasizes Julien Nicolas
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At the end of March, the UN had already warned that there was a “high probability” that 2024 will in turn display unprecedented temperatures, while 2023 concludes a decade of record heat, pushing the planet “on the edge of the abyss”.
For Julien Nicolas, however, it is “still a little early” to predict whether new records will be broken, as 2023 has been exceptional.
By Le Nouvel Obs with AFP
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